#291952 by TerranceBoyce
Sat Apr 16, 2016 1:51 pm
This is becoming an increasingly frequently event and has affected companies, banks, hospital, schools and local government for quite a while.
It is a ridiculously simple task for a fraudster/hacker, and organisations need to do a lot more to prevent it otherwise their services will become too unreliable for the public to use.
In this instance there is no clear indication what took place and who was responsible and the victims are in the unenviable position of having lost a substantial sum of money and don't even have access to the fraudulent document/message that caused the fraud. If this had been the proceeds of their main home, it would have been a life-changing disaster. No one can risk that.
There are two fundamental flaws in the way systems operate nowadays
1. It is far too easy for criminals to open bank accounts to use in fraud. (I read an article recently that said that Hongkong banks were using fingerprints in initiating payments for customers and this is how it will have to go.
2. The acceptance of instructions by email which is a fundamentally insecure means of communication. (I could mention why this is so, but that would mean revealing something that might only encourage fraudsters).
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14432150.Couple_loses___30_000_as_fraudster_dupes_law_firm/?
It is a ridiculously simple task for a fraudster/hacker, and organisations need to do a lot more to prevent it otherwise their services will become too unreliable for the public to use.
In this instance there is no clear indication what took place and who was responsible and the victims are in the unenviable position of having lost a substantial sum of money and don't even have access to the fraudulent document/message that caused the fraud. If this had been the proceeds of their main home, it would have been a life-changing disaster. No one can risk that.
There are two fundamental flaws in the way systems operate nowadays
1. It is far too easy for criminals to open bank accounts to use in fraud. (I read an article recently that said that Hongkong banks were using fingerprints in initiating payments for customers and this is how it will have to go.
2. The acceptance of instructions by email which is a fundamentally insecure means of communication. (I could mention why this is so, but that would mean revealing something that might only encourage fraudsters).
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14432150.Couple_loses___30_000_as_fraudster_dupes_law_firm/?
16 Apr 16
Couple loses £30,000 as fraudster dupes law firm
A COUPLE lost more than £30,000 after the solicitors’ firm they hired to sell their holiday home was duped by an online fraudster, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in Scotland
Exactly £30,366.65 was stolen when the fraudster hacked into online correspondence between the Richards and their solicitor at the Glasgow branch of Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie (WJM), before duplicating the couple’s email to request that the firm pay the funds to a new sort code and account number. It turned out to belong to a bank account in Birmingham.
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